Customs that Discriminate against Females

In most ethnic groups in Ghana, there are traditions that abuse female rights. Examples of such customs are below:

i. Widowhood rites: It is a custom a widow is made to do when her husband dies. She is made to stay with her dead husband in a locked room for some days. Sometimes she is made to shave her hair completely.

ii. Female Genital Mutilation (F.G.M): This is also one custom that is practiced among certain ethnic groups which tend to abuse the rights of females. It involves the cutting of the clitoris of the female genital organ using broken bottles, unsafe blades and knives as a way of circumcising them.

iii. Trokosi system: In this custom, young girls are forcefully arrested and held in the trokosi shrines to serve as atonement for crimes committed by relatives. They suffer for crimes they did not commit.

iv. Forced or early marriages: Females are forced into marriages which they do not agree to.